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Sunday, August 8, 2010

Well, I didn't actually do it, but I thought about it. As the date of our departure from Italy approached, I was -- as readers and listeners will remember -- getting deeper and deeper into minimalist QRSS beacons. During the final weeks I was running my 15 mW Hans Summers-inspired varactor-modulated FSK transmitter from our country location up in the Sabine Hills. I had it running off one of my Volkswagen solar panels. I knew that the owner of the olive grove wouldn't mind if I left my nearly-invisible doublet antenna in the trees... You guys see where I was going with this. I came close to leaving that thing on the air. Sometimes I kind of wish I had. It would have been fun. But the QRSS beacons already seemed to be pushing the regulatory envelope a bit, so the solar panel and the beacon board went into the shipping container. I hope they will soon be radiating from Northern Virginia...

All OK here. We are getting settled. Our stuff should be arriving in the USA next week. We may have a new podcast out by early September.

We are still in a temporary apartment. This week Billy and I visited the local hardware store and got some very thin magnet wire. I have about 50 feet of it going from the balcony to a tree. As I type I'm listening to SSB net activity on 40 meters with my little Sony portable receiver. Man, that recent Coronal Mass Ejection really seems to have messed up propagation. But hopefully it is an indication that Ole' Sol is coming back to life.

Glad to hear you're beginning to get settled back on the East Coast. Hopefully we'll run into each other on the air! I'm fairly active on 40m SSB, especially mobile during my travels for work. Are there particular nets you've been listening to?

Ha ha, I hear you. Hams are too damn ethical. That QRSS beacon should have stayed on the air. Here's what I had in mind. I have a friend who was recently deployed to Cape Verde Island D4. I tried to get him his tech license before he left, but he didn't have time. I was going to send a beacon with him, all legal like... Didn't work out, though. I'm still evangelizing him. Always propagating the greatest hobby in the world.Ditdit, Jonathan KC7FYS/QRP/M

I love your show and still haven't downloaded all the past shows. Anyway, just thought you should know, I just started a Facebook Community page called "Amateur Radio Homebrew". It can be found at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Amateur-radio-homebrew/142627832420633 . I would encourage you and your listeners to help add content to this new community. When I typed "homebrew" in my interests on Facebook, I noticed there was no association for a page. So I started it myself. There are 7 likes so far... I'd like to see that get to over 1000 in 7 days. Ciao!

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SolderSmoke - The Book!

In response to popular demand, "SolderSmoke -- Global Adventures in Wireless Electronics" is now available as an e-book for Amazon's Kindle.
Here's the site:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004V9FIVW
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For the print version:
For shipping from a printer in the U.S. (probably better for N. American buyers) Click here: SolderSmoke USA Version
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The two versions are identical, except for a minor difference in the paper used. That's why the prices are a bit different.